Kick Me While I'm Down

One would think that something like a supposed gluten sensitivity would be just about as much work as one person needs when planning meals and learning about new foods.  But no.  Nooooooooooo.  Let me tell you a story.

A few weeks ago I prided myself in a complete gluten free dinner for everyone.  It included breaded (GF) chicken breasts with capers and lemon sauce and a side of rosemary roasted potatoes.  It was very pretty and looked especially uppity with a glass of cheap wine next to it.  It was fantastic.  Even the kids sat through dinner with minimal complaints, probably only eating potatoes but who cares.  About thirty beautiful minutes later my body didn't seem to appreciate my meal and by the next morning I was wondering what in the world had happened?  I followed the rules for gluten free cooking, but something was very wrong with me.

It was at that point that I contacted my dear friend and personal dietitian, Kate.  She works pro-bono for me only. She once informed me that in order to reap the full nutritional benefits of a piece of garlic, that you should cut it and let it set for precisely 10 minutes before cooking it. She's a wealth of random knowledge.  When I told her about my dinner and asked what the problem might be she informed me of the wonderful world of nighshades.  Bam. Kick. Bitch slap.  You see nightshades are a group of foods including tomatoes, potatoes, peppers (all varieties), eggplants, and several spices.  These suckers are often the culprits of pain in pre existing inflammatory diseases.  They often go hand in hand with gluten sensitivity.  Thank you for that.  What becomes even more tricky is that most processed GF foods (granola bars, bread, cookies, etc.) are made using potato starch so they are also a no no. Even many GF flour mixes have potato starch.  My new rule for eating is: if it isn't alive now or was at some point, I can't eat it.

So I have now almost completely eliminated 1.5 food groups.  Cooking without gluten is one thing.  Cooking without nightshades is another.  Now ask me how I'm feeling.  Frustrated with energy is the answer. You see, I could embark upon just about any food adventure I needed.  I love to cook and experiment and enjoy the challenge of finding new foods to eat.  But God gave me Isis, bless you sweet sweet child, who eats only bread.  Good times, good times.  And in further news my husband who I adore and who cooks thoughtfully for me, asked me what I might be giving up for lent this year.  Seriously?  I was kind of banking on God showering me with gluten free mana from heaven.

But seriously, let me tell you the changes since being off gluten for a month.  I don't fall asleep at 8:30 every night.  Sometimes I sit awake looking at the clock and wonder What exactly does one do at 10:30 pm?  I also sleep through the night.  This. Is. Huge.  For months I would wake up at night and it would take me anywhere from 1-2 hours to fall back to sleep.  Now, I am back down in under five minutes.  I'm still adjusting to good sleep.  I am much much much much less angry.  I watch my kids do things that would have caused me to scream at them, which I usually did.  I'm just much less irritable.  One might even say happy?  Although Chris is the smile monitor in our house so you would have to ask him. I'm much less overwhelmed.  I've admitted in the past that I just didn't do things because it seemed like too much.  I would like to report that our bedroom and bathroom both got cleaned in the same week.  That may or may not have anything to do with a certain best friend asking me just how often I cleaned my tub. 

So there we have it.  One month down, four more to go.  The foods choices are getting smaller and my ability to cope with it and smile about it is growing.  Tomorrow I meet with a not so pro-bono dietitian who can hopefully give me further help.  In the meantime, I am happy to report that Snickers bars are both nightshade and gluten free.  As are some flavors of Ben and Jerry's.  And so is wine.